Peppermint
by ClockwerkOrange
Summary: Pepper and Mint were groomed to be the perfect Irken soldiers, but it seems they were even better than anticipated. Together, they embark on an adventure for the glory of the Empire. Mainly OC-driven.
1. Isolation

I awoke with a start and looked around me. I exhaled when I noticed that I was back in bed in my room. They had been running tests on me yesterday, but they said that I was completely stable and healthy. They said that I should be well rested for what was going to happen today.

My room was but one of many in a lab where they had several other Irken children. I had never met them, but they told me that we would all meet each other soon enough. They also said that the reason we couldn't have any contact with anyone other than them had something to do with what they were going to do to us.

We must have had no relationships of any kind with anyone.

_Ever._

I had never known someone's name, and I'd never seen someone's face without a surgical mask on it. However, today was the day. Today, I was going to make a friend.

There was a small knock on my door, so I climbed off of my small bed and walked through my small, white, sterile room to the door as it opened. It was a female Irken scientist. I couldn't be sure if I had met her before, because all of the scientists had to wear voice emulators to keep their voices the same as everyone else of their gender. They had to be completely anonymous. They even wore identically colored contacts. The males wore red ones, and the females wore purple ones.

The scientist smiled. Well, I couldn't see her mouth past the surgical mask, but I could tell by looking at her eyes. She told me that they needed me in the lab, and she took my hand. As she was leading me down the hallway, I noticed that we passed the usual room.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

She was silent.

I was growing uncomfortable as we rounded a corner and began walking down where I had never been before. She stopped at a unmarked door and pushed it open. It was completely white. There were two chairs with angled backs so you could sort of half-lay on them with monitors in front of them, and a computer off to the side of the room. I looked up with a curious expression, and the Irken was looking down at me with a cold, distanced expression.

Since I was eager to please (And a little nervous), I asked what I should do. She told me to lie on the chair to the right and stay still. I obediently did so, and I looked to my left when the door to the room opened.

Another scientist was leading another girl into the room. I was shocked at her appearance, because… she looked _exactly _like_ me_. Although, I thought, how could I be sure that everyone didn't look exactly like me? I hadn't ever seen anyone's face before. Then, I paused. Why were they letting me see this girl's face, then? I glanced at her again. She was curiously asking the scientist what she should do, just like I did. In my voice.

She really did look exactly like me… Except, I noticed, she has green eyes, and mine are red.

The other scientist, a male, walked over to the computer while the female one walked over to us.

"Now, we want you to look at the monitors for a little while. Can you do this for us?" she asked pleasantly. It was painfully obvious, to me, anyway, that she was being so sickeningly _nice_ to us with that sentence. No one had ever been _nice _outside of a few brief smiles at the facility.

"Yes," my green-eyed doppelganger replied, now reclining on the other chair.

I nodded.

The female scientist flashed one of those rare smiles, turned, and walked over to the computer with the other Irken.

"Remember," I heard him whisper, "don't look at the monitors if you check on them."

"Why?" she asked quietly.

"It's mental conditioning. It's meant for them, not for you," he muttered while he clacked on the keyboard. "If you were to look at it, even for an instant, there could be irreparable changes to the way your mind works."

"Yes, sir," she replied, and then looked uneasily at us.

My stomach twisted into a knot when the male Irken looked at me. He bit his lip, and I just knew he was wondering if I had overheard or not. He sighed and turned back to the computer.

The monitors flickered to life, showing an image of pure white. I glanced briefly to the left and saw that the other girl was staring into her monitor as well. I turned back.

I furrowed my brow. It was just white.

I was going to ask what the purpose of this was, but then there was a spectacular frenzy of color. I stared at the screen, stone still. Irken text flew across the screen, too fast for me to see. Strange images, then pictures of me no doubt collected from surveillance technology in the facility, and then pictures of the girl next to me flashed across the screen, all with that same frenzy of color. It was strange. Rhythmic. Primal. I had never seen anything like it before. The colors persisted, and the time it took for them to change grew faster and faster as the different objects on the screen changed faster and became more unidentifiable, and I felt myself feeling a little sick. Then, it was white again.

Five seconds later, I blacked out.


	2. Phase 3

"She's awake."

That was the first thing I heard on the day that everything was just… different. I woke up on a grey table. The other girl was next to me on an identical table that they had placed against mine. I inspected my hands blearily, checking to see if I was dreaming or not. I looked at the other girl. She didn't have any bandages anywhere, so I doubted that they had operated on us.

"Are you feeling okay?" a doctor asked.

I nodded.

"The other one's waking up, too," the nurse said.

I looked, and the other girl was indeed waking up as she said. My head was spinning. I had so many questions. All I knew was that I was supposed to be the a new kind of super soldier for the Irken military. An honor. At least, that's what I was told.

How did this girl fit into the picture?

As I was contemplating that, a tall Irken with a lab coat walked into the room. His eyes were startlingly red, and he looked from the doctor to us. "Have they…?" he asked.

The doctor nodded.

"You two, stand up and come with me," he instructed.

We both climbed off of the tables and walked down the hall. We were in a hallway that I had never been in before. I realized that he was the only person who I had seen the face of, except for the green-eyed girl walking next to me, that is.

We stopped at a door, and he opened it and gestured for us to enter. He had two chairs in front of a desk, with another chair behind it. He walked in after us and sat behind the desk. He had a small sign on his desk that informed anyone sitting in his office that his name was Red. I furrowed my brow and read it again. It was a strange name. Who would be named after the color of their eyes?

"Sit down, sit down," he said, gesturing for us to sit.

We did so, and after we had settled in, he leaned forward.

"My name's Red," he said, shaking both of our hands in turn. "I'm in charge of this facility, and now that we've reached phase three, I can tell you a little more about what we're doing here."

"Phase three?" I asked.

"Yes, phase three," he said, chuckling. "It's my favorite phase."

I stared at him.

"Anyway," he said, leaning back in his chair. "I'm here to tell you that you two were just… well, mentally modified to have a special bond."

"Brainwashed, you mean?" I muttered.

"What was that?" he asked curiously.

"Nothing," I replied. "Nothing important."

"I see. Anyways, what you two have right now is called a 'Pairbond'." He paused. "I made that term myself, by the way." He cleared his throat and looked from the other girl to me. "If I'm not mistaken, your name is Pepper?" he asked me.

"Yes," I replied.

"Right. And your name is Mint?" he asked the green-eyed girl.

"Yes," she replied.

"Well, together that's 'Peppermint'. See what I did there?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. After seeing no hint of amusement from either of us, he continued. "The Irken military thinks that having pairs of troops in different combat situations will work well. I'm here to test that. I'm going to tell you both right now… you're going to be the best soldiers that anyone has ever seen. Also, your morning exercises in your room will now be replaced by group exercises, and you will eat in a room with others instead of by yourselves."

"I have a question," both Mint and I said in unison. She blushed nervously and sank lower in her chair.

"Go ahead… one of you," Red said, puzzled.

"Does this mean that we'll be around other people? Like us?" I asked.

"I'm not sure I know what you mean," Red said.

"She means… a pair. You know," Mint explained.

I was startled when I realized that she knew exactly what I meant…

"Oh, yes. There's a few other groups of Pairbonded Irkens like yourselves," Red said, nodding. "There's Louis and Clark, Machu and Picchu, and… well, there's others, but the puns stop there." He grinned. "Any more questions?"

Mint and I looked at each other.

"No," we said in unison.

I felt a shiver run down my spine.

"Great. You will be sharing a room in a different part of the facility. I'll have someone show you there."

_In a small park built into the Tallest's private living quarters, also known as Pendragon in the Irken capital city…_

"Sir! Ma'am! Sir ma'am sir!" an Irken male shouted, and then ran hurriedly into small park area.

A tall Irken woman was sitting on a bench, looking at a small, artificial river rushing past. He ran up to her and, after breathing heavily, tried to speak.

"My Tallest… I…" He paused, gasping for breath. "I have news from the Pairbond project."

"Yes… I'd be glad to hear it," Miyuki stated, still immersed in the river. "You know, it's customary to bow, or lower to one knee, or something when in a position higher than the Almighty Tallest. After all, I'm sitting down."

The informant looked like his brain was about to explode. "My Tallest, I'm sorry, I…"

"It's fine, really. Now, what news do you have?" she asked, now meeting his eyes.

"Well, it seems as though the Pairbonding was a success and the first batch of them are going…" Miyuki interrupted him.

"I know. I thought of the project myself, you know."

The informant nodded.

"I assume that a project based on the concept of love instead of hate will help the Empire greatly…" She sighed, and then returned her thoughts to the progress of the project. "So, they're entering phase three already. That's my favorite phase."


	3. For Outstanding AchieveMint

_At Pendragon…_

"All I want to know is," Miyuki began, "Which pair is doing the best?"

"That would be Pepper and Mint," Red said over the video communicator. "They've already shot to the top of the group over the few months after they were Pairbonded. The only pair that comes close to them in the courses or endurance tests are Louis and Clark."

"I see. Keep an eye on them. I want all of the best performing pairs for phase five."

"I will, don't worry."

Miyuki sighed. "You know, some political fools are trying to cut the funding for the Pairbond project."

"Really? Why?" Red asked.

"They think that it's pointless."

"They don't understand what we're trying to do," Red replied.

"Well, you would say that…" Miyuki muttered. "After all, you and Purple were one of the first pairs. It's kind of biased."

"Please, Miyuki…" Red said back. "You know that's not true. You've seen the results."

"Yes, you, Purple, Scarlet, and Violet were all much better than most of the regular soldiers at the time, I suppose…"

"You suppose? My Tallest, this project has much more promise than _any _other project on all of Irk!" he yelled. "Tell those stuffy bureaucrats _that_."

"I would, but I'm stretching my rank as far as I can right now," she shot back. "I've already managed to catch and prevent two assassinations on me."

Red was silent.

"Yes, it's true," she muttered. "The Irken that is next in line for my position is behind it, I know, but I can't seem to find any evidence that would implicate him in the attempts… so far."

"Are you sure?" Red asked.

"Of course I'm sure!" Miyuki snapped back. She sighed. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Red muttered. "I know this won't sound very encouraging, but if he were to succeed, I would have him killed."

"That means a lot," Miyuki replied. "But it's not very useful to me now." She sighed. "Where's Purple right now?"

"He's probably hiding in the kitchen, eating snacks," Red muttered.

"Ah, yes," Miyuki said. "Well, carry on. I must be going now."

"Yes, my Tallest."

_At the Pairbonding facility…_

"As you know already, the pairs here will be sent to different combat units," Red said at his podium in front of the batch of Pairbonded Irkens. "The unit you are sent to, as well as your rank, will be decided by your pair's combined performance over the several months you have been here.

I glanced at Mint, who sitting right next to me, and observed her perfect posture and her overall sense of listening attentively. We had grown considerably over the past few months. We - the pairs at the facility - had all been given PAKs that contained rapid-growth chemicals, so we had already grown to our late teens in a couple of months. All of the knowledge that we needed was in our PAK. And, rather than be a child in an older body, our minds had matured rapidly as well.

In those months, we had shot to the top of the group. We beat every obstacle course, ran every endurance test, and succeeded in whatever we did. The Pairbonding was a success. I finally had a friend. We were inseparable, and we were the best.

Speaking of the best_, _Mint and I had found out quickly that we were geniuses. For all of Irk's DNA modification techniques, they still can't make every Irken smart. So, in a sense, we were lucky.

My face fell at the thought of 'luck'. We were _very_ lucky, indeed. Several other pairs had experienced mental breakdowns as a direct result of the Pairbonding mental modifications. A few others' brains were essentially burned out by the Pairbonding, and they sat around, drooling, until the scientists put them out of their misery. One pair - oddly, since they were near-clones - had one member fine, and the other brain dead. I really, _really _want to forget the survivor's reaction.

And that wasn't even taking into account the physical augmentations they had put us through. With extensive chemical modifications to our bodies, our reflexes were almost instantaneous. We were fast - very fast - and slightly stronger than a regular Irken soldier. They said that the augmentations had been approved for the second batch.

That was us.

The first batch was almost a failure. Only a few pairs actually made it out alive. A few examples would be Red and Purple, and another pair that I haven't met, Violet and Scarlet.

It was interesting being overseen by a pair just like us…

The second batch had a higher survival rate… but, _including_ Mint and I, there were only twenty-six pairs left.

Out of one hundred.

"Yes!" Purple said, pushing Red out of the way of the microphone. He was holding a donut in his left hand. "I agree! I am listening!" he shouted unconvincingly.

"Yes, Purple, now move," Red grumbled.

"'K," Purple replied cheerfully through a mouth full of donut.

"That's quite a mouthful," Red commented, shooting Purple a sharp glare. "Anyways, we would like to formally recognize a few pairs for their high level of achievement at the facility."

"First!" Purple shouted. "We have… Machu and Picchu!"

A silent and unenthusiastic female pair with blue eyes and golden eyes stood up and walked over to the podium. It was just sitting on the ground in front of the facility, so they didn't have to walk up stairs to a stage.

"Thank you," they said in unison, accepting two medals. The audience clapped politely.

"Man, they're still weird, huh?" I asked Mint. She chuckled and nodded.

"Next, we have Jik and Que," Red said. They walked up as well, and Red presented them with their medals. The audience clapped from their foldable metal chairs.

"And last, but _certainly_ not least," Red said with a grin. "We have Pepper and Mint!"

Mint smiled widely and grabbed my hand. She led me to the podium, and Red and Purple pinned two gold medals with the Irken logo on our shirts.

"Congratulations," Red said.

The audience erupted into claps and cheers.


	4. Invasion

Miyuki waited for Red to answer the video call.

"Yes?" Red asked, moving in front of the camera. "My Tallest," he added.

"Red, I have some bad news."

"What is it?"

"Our funding is gone."

Red stared. "Well… couldn't you fund it yourself?"

"I'm afraid not… the project has been closed," she muttered.

"Well… well, that's alright. We've already reached phase five," Red said, sitting down in his chair. He looked bewildered.

"I understand, but this means that unless I somehow get approval to continue the project, there won't be any more Pairbonding," she paused. "Ever again."

"They can't do that."

"They did," she replied bitterly. "The current pairs will still be accepted into the military, but unless I can convince anyone to restart the project, we're done."

Red sighed. "I see."

_One month later…_

"Come on, come on, someone answer…" an Irken soldier whispered frantically into the radio.

"Soldier? What's your identification number?" a voice asked from the other end.

"285531592," he said. "We're in a bunker near the capital, and w-we've got wounded…"

"Calm down, soldier. We're sending backup as we speak. You're going to have to fight back the Vortians until then. " The line went dead.

He started crying. He _actually _started crying.

I looked up from the corner and shot him a glare. He shut up.

"Private Riff, I really don't think that crying is going to solve anything," I muttered. "Especially crying when you're unhurt, and at least four soldiers in our unit are."

He sniffled.

"In fact, if you don't stop crying, I'll give you something to cry about," I finished, fingering the handle of my combat knife. I stuffed it back in the sheath and stood up.

"Okay, ladies, come on," I said. "We have to go now."

"Go… out _there_?" Riff asked.

"Yeah. Out there. Mint! We're going," I said.

Mint peeked out from another room. "Okay, I just finished treating Corporal Dunn!" she said, dragging the poor corporal out. He had experienced the feeling of getting most of the skin on the side of your torso burned off by an explosion, but Mint had put some painkilling goo on it and wrapped him up, which was all she could really do at that point. Plus, he had to fight.

"The concept that these inferior beings, however skilled they may be with their silly electronics, are bringing the capital of Irk to its knees is _unsatisfactory_," I said, pacing around. "Since this war began but two weeks ago under Vort's usual 'get in, kill the leaders, get out' policy, we've been steadily losing from lack of air support and ground reinforcements. Today, we take back what is ours."

"But what about those things you said?" Riff asked. "Lack of air support and reinforcements?"

"Okay, we can sit here until the Vortians come and kill us," I said, and then sat down on the floor.

Riff stared at me.

"Exactly," I said, and stood back up. "Come on. Get your weapons, everyone… we're going back out."

Corporal Dunn, Private Riff, Mint, and I began walking up the staircase. I paused at the top trapdoor. Would there be anything there to reclaim?

Mint walked past me and pushed it open.

Dunn and Riff gaped.

The sky was black. Buildings were aflame - Vortian aircraft with their strange twin rotor blades hovered around, firing machinegun fire and rockets into the government buildings in the capital.

"Come on," I said, recovering. "We have to make sure the Tallest is safe."

That was the primary objective: Secure the Almighty Tallest.

Our group sprinted down the street, trying to stay in the shadows so that the Vortian gunships wouldn't notice us.

"There's Pendragon!" Mint said.

We ran faster.

"Contact, second floor!" Riff shouted, and aimed his rifle down the sights at an unsuspecting Vortian on the second floor of Pendragon.

_Crack,_ and he was down.

"No further contacts," Dunn muttered.

I looked around the windows and then nodded. "Okay, move in."

Mint opened the door slowly with her sidearm aimed inside. "It's clear."

"Move up - check your corners," I said, entering the building.

"Do you think that Vortian was the only one?" Riff asked.

"Could be. He might have just been a sentry," I said quietly.

We walked down the hallway, but then I heard a voice. I motioned for everyone to stop walking, and I walked to where the talking was coming from.

I opened the door slowly. There was a radio sitting on a table.

"_Operation Cut Down is in effect, when the allotted time reaches zero, an electromagnetic pulse bomb will be detonated over the capital city. Repeat, an electromagnetic pulse bomb will be detonated over the capital city. Two minutes until detonation._"

"Did you hear that?" I asked.

"Yeah," Mint said from the hallway.

"We have to find the Tallest before then!" I shouted. "All hell will break loose when the EMP goes off."

"Okay," Dunn said. "She's probably in the basement, then."

"That seems likely," Mint said.

"Well, then, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" I yelled, and we made our way to a spiral staircase heading down. We stopped at a large metal door.

"This must be it," Mint said, and pushed it open.

"Vortian _scum!_" someone screamed from inside, and dove at Mint with a combat knife. I reacted quickly. I jumped in front of Mint, grabbed the attacker's arm and twisted it. The knife harmlessly clattered to the metal floor.

"Oh," the attacker said. It was the Almighty Tallest - Miyuki.

I let go. "Forgive me, my Tallest."

"Oh, no, I understand," she said quickly. "I was hoping that someone would try to help me out of here. Vortian gunships have been circling Pendragon for a while." She chuckled. "I think they got a little scared when none of their units came back."

I looked to the corner of the bunker, and a few Vortian bodies were laying there.

"I see," Mint said weakly.

"Well, my name is Pepper, and I'll be escorting you out of here," I said.

She gave me a funny look. "Pepper and Mint? From the facility?"

I nodded.

"Well, I'm in capable hands," she replied. "Could I borrow someone's sidearm?"

Mint handed her a pistol.

"Right, let's get out of here."


	5. Relaxing All Chill

"_Operation Cut Down is in ef-…"_

"EMP!"

"What the hell is g-…"

_Sputter sputter sputter WHAM, . Bonk._

"That didn't sound good," Mint commented.

My unit and I peeked out of the side of the ruined building we hid in, and couldn't help but notice the Vortian aircraft downed in the middle of the street, covered in fire.

"Well, it's clear," I said, and cautiously moved out of the building. I looked around, and stood up. "Okay, it's really, really clear."

The rest of the group looked at me questioningly, but then looked up. Without the lights of the capital blazing in the night, the stars were extremely visible. I saw a pink dot.

"Aha!" Miyuki exclaimed, causing one of the meeker soldiers to flinch. "That's the Massive, all right."

I squinted. The dot was definitely moving.

"How ironic it is that a gift from the Vortians would prove to be their downfall. I expect they'll be upset," she finished.

_The Massive._

"Ah," Miyuki said simply, and inspected the crew busying themselves on the bridge. She clasped her spindly hands together, and glanced back at us. "Pepper, Mint, I'm pulling you from your unit for a special assignment."

We frowned. "What do you mean, my Tallest? What kind of assignment do you have in mind for us?"

Miyuki smiled an odd smile, as if she had heard a hilarious joke, and then quickly averted her eyes. She cleared her throat, and then turned around with a guarded expression on her face. "Rebel activity has increased recently. They honestly believe that we won't be able to stop them with a war on our hands." Her expression faltered, and again it seemed that she was trying not to laugh out loud.

We – erm, that is to say, I – was suddenly afflicted with a painful headache, and I could have sworn I saw several numbers and letters flash before my eyes. I blinked a few times, and noticed that I was staring at one of the command terminals. There was some sort of letter on the screen.

"Pepper?" Miyuki asked, staring at me oddly. She followed my eyes, and saw that I was looking at the screen. She glanced back at me without moving, but I could see that her expression had tensed up.

"I apologize, my Tallest," I said, and I glanced at Mint. She looked at me questioningly.

"In any case, I'm going to arrange for you to be sent to two of our undercover operatives – Violet and Scarlet. You'll like them," she added, and nodded knowingly. "You're going to be trained to spy on a rebel cell, and report their actions to us."

"Yes, my Tallest," we said in unison.

Miyuki nodded, and again did the odd, barely detectable event – was she remembering some kind of joke? Was there something on my face? I frowned. It wasn't proper to question the Tallest.

But, still. It was odd.

After a few more pleasantries, Miyuki authorized the launch of a Special Corps stealth cruiser for us. After a generic ride in the black blackness that is space, we arrived at the Irken Empire Military Installation on the planet of Marzip, a planet just outside of the inner colonies in the Irken Empire.

The cruiser's engines hummed down quietly, and it touched the landing pad with a barely noticeable force. I glanced at Mint, who had been silent for the two-hour trip. A _ding_ sound played, and the hatch to the passenger cabin slid open noiselessly. Mint turned and stood, and I did the same. Her eyes were troubled.

Wordlessly, we left the cruiser. The installation's bay was full of soldiers and civilians going about their business. There was an art deco feel about the place – drastically different from the normal style of Irken architecture found in the inner colonies. After a few seconds of standing around, suddenly realizing that we weren't sure what to do next, we were met by an elderly male Irken wearing a suit.

"Pepper and Mint, right?" he asked pleasantly. His eyes were a pale lavender color behind his glasses.

"Yes," I said, still concerned about Mint's odd behavior, "I suppose you're here because of Violet and Scarlet."

"That's right. I'm their butler," he said, shaking hands with each of us. "My name is Jer."

"That explains the suit," Mint commented. "The 'butler' part. Not your name."

That earned a chuckle from Jer.

"Well, if we don't hurry up and get to the estate, Violet and Sc-…"

"Estate?" I asked flatly. I never was one for subtlety.

Jer chuckled again. "Yes. Their estate is essentially a base of operations for Imperial agents here. As of late, only special operations - or whatever top secret nickname they've made up for your group - bother to show up anymore." He drew a hat out of his pocket, and unfolded it from its crumpled state. It most closely resembled a highly wrinkled version of a chauffeur's hat.

"I think we could make it in five minutes, if I fly like a madman," he said quietly, inspecting his watch.

After the ride that left us literally on the edges of our seats, we finally reached our destination. "The estate" was a moderately large house just on the outskirts of town. It was white, with black roofing. There was even a fence around it.

"How picturesque," I remarked.

"Wait until you meet… well, here comes Violet now," Jer said, glancing to the approaching figure.

Violet had – unsurprisingly – purple eyes, and a thin, vaguely sleepy appearance. She was wearing a generic Invader-style Irken uniform, except white and black, signifying some form of special operations within the Empire. Once she was near our craft, we realized that it might be polite to step out. After exiting the vehicle, we walked over to meet her.

"Hi," she said quietly. I glanced over her again. She had a slightly dazed appearance, but her eyes seemed intelligent behind her foggy expression.

"Hi," Mint said back.

I smiled.

"I'm Violet," she said simply, still muttering her words. "Mint, Pepper," she said, nodding to us each in turn. After we nodded our approval, she nodded once again, and beckoned for us to follow her. The walkway from the road to the house was some sort of cobblestone, and the house was just as immaculate up close as it was from afar. The door was black, and once Violet sleepily keyed in the code, it slid open with a tiny hiss. We walked into the house, and the door closed behind us.

"Wow," Mint stated.

I looked around. There were genuine wooden floors, shining after being coated with something like polyurethane. There was a staircase going up to the second floor, where I could see that one room to the right was a library from where I stood. To the left, I saw a hallway with a few doors on it that eventually led to the kitchen, and to the right I saw the living room – with a dining room right next to it.

"I didn't expect this," I said.

"It's nice!" Mint said.

Violet had already sat down at the dining room table. I hadn't really noticed her odd, restrained, zombie-like walk until then. She was reading something on a holographic reader when we were nearly in the room. Suddenly, the front door opened.

"Violet! _Violet!_" someone called.

Mint gestured for me to move as the speaker quickly walked up to the table. She hadn't seen us, because we were behind her, and her attention was on Violet.

"Scarlet," Violet stated, somehow managing to look both surprised and distant at the same time.

Scarlet dropped what looked like a military report on the table. She didn't speak.

There was a shuffling sound as Violet flipped through it.

"What?" Violet asked.

"'What'?" Scarlet repeated. "'WHAT'?" She slapped the papers out of Violet's hand, and they scattered across the table and floor. Violet looked upset.

"WE WERE ORDERED BY THE OFFICE OF SPECIAL OPERATIONS TO NOT TAKE ON ANY BOARDERS UNTIL THE _LAST_ FIASCO BLEW OVER!" she shouted, practically in Violet's face.

Violet began sniffling. "Y-you need to calm down…" she said, and reached into her pocket. She pulled out a small plastic cylinder that clattered when she held it out for Scarlet. "Just take one. They'll calm you down. Please."

Scarlet viciously smacked away the bottle, and it clattered onto the floor. Violet began to curl up slightly. Scarlet wasn't finished. "Maybe if you weren't so fucked up on painkillers all of the time, you'd be able to reason with whichever moron that-…!"

"The T-tallest told us to take them…" Violet murmured softly.

Scarlet maintained her angry pose, but then relaxed a bit. "Even so," she muttered. She straightened. "Even so! You should have argued! I… you shouldn't have… damn it!"

I glanced at Mint, and she was staring blankly at the two. With an episode like that, I expected my facial expression to be similar.

Violet sniffled again, breaking the silence.

"I d-did it again, didn't I?" Scarlet asked, voice cracking.

Violet nodded.

Scarlet burst into tears, and collapsed onto Violet's chair, arms draped on her shoulders.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she cried, face buried in Violet's sleeve. Violet leaned on her slightly with a vaguely sad expression on her face. "I fucking love you," she whimpered.

"I forgive you," Violet said, as though she had said it before – perhaps twice, perhaps a thousand times. "They arrived a few minutes ago…"

Scarlet sniffled, and looked up into Violet's face, not wanting to break the comforting physical contact. "Who arrived?" she asked.

Violet halfheartedly brushed her hand in our direction, and Scarlet glanced over.

"Oh."


	6. Our Secret

It was one of Violet's good days.

"Hah!" Violet exclaimed, as she delivered a swift punch to my arm. I fluidly tried to wrap my arm around her strike and pull her over, but she ended up shrugging off the action. I went for her foot with a quick kick to knock her off balance, and with a swipe of my leg, she was on only one foot. I pushed her roughly, and she spun around in a ridiculously off-balance manner, but managed to plant her foot firmly on the ground again. "I told you," she said, panting mildly, "Balance is the key to any effective defense."

"Perhaps."

Violet turned and saw Scarlet in the doorway of the exercise room next to Mint sitting on the bench. Violet grinned. "What? Are you going to challenge me after the rookies've been wearing me out?"

Scarlet paused and glanced around. "…Perhaps."

Violet focused her eyes on me. They had changed. The intelligence was still there, but instead of being pushed behind a painkiller-induced mental fog, her eyes were wide open and intensely aware. Mint and I, when we were discussing the events of the past few days in our new room, skittered over the subject of Violet's jar of pills. Was life at home really that-…? In any case, she seemed energetic enough to try and give us some combat training. When I had informed her that Mint and I had already passed our hand-to-hand combat course when I was at the Facility, she had openly challenged me.

"I'm going to deal with the business at hand first!" Violet dove at me, and pushed me down onto the mat from the force of the impact. While I was struggling to get up, I noticed that she had used the opposite force of my unceremonious fall to stay upright. She casually pushed me back onto the mat with her foot.

"I see," I said flatly. "Truly, you are the victor."

"Is Scarlet's sarcasm rubbing off on you already?" Violet asked with a smile while helping me to my feet.

"'Perhaps'," I quoted with a smirk.

Mint giggled at that while I sat next to her on the bench. Scarlet donned some boxing hand wrappings while Violet tried to recover some lost stamina by informing Scarlet how much of a better fighter she was.

"Violet's certainly a bit more… violent," Mint said, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah," I replied. "You wouldn't have expected it."

Mint frowned and glanced at me. "I've been thinking… maybe she's the more aggressive of the two. Maybe that's why she takes those pills."

I hadn't thought of that – especially when Scarlet had a temper that could melt iron. "It's possible," I said.

"Alright, Violet," Scarlet said, in a battle pose.

"Come at me," Violet offered.

They sparred for a while, much to Pepper and Mint's amusement. They were ridiculously evenly matched, and wore each other's endurance down to the point where they were both just standing still, panting heavily.

"I think… I should make… a sandwich…" Violet panted.

"Myeah…" Scarlet said.

They practically stumbled out of the ring, undid their wrappings, and trudged to the kitchen. We followed. After hydrating themselves with delicious juice, Scarlet grabbed bread and cheese, while Violet pulled some interesting sandwich filling items. They placed them on the counter, and began assembling sandwiches at max speed. When I had inquired if Mint and I could help somehow, Violet said no. I shrugged. They practically collapsed when they finished making the sandwiches, and hurriedly placed the ingredients back into the refrigerator. They separated the pile of sandwiches onto four plates, and they each took two, and gave each of us one of them.

They were good.

"So, tell us," Violet said before taking another bite of a sandwich, "How was your time at the Facility?"

"It was alright, I suppose," Mint said. She took another bite and chewed thoughtfully, glancing at me.

I nodded. "Actually, it didn't really last very long if you take into account the growth serum that they used on everyone."

"The what?" Scarlet asked, staring at us blankly.

I frowned. "The scientists there were using some newly discovered method to make Irkens grow quicker, and then stabilize. It supposedly condensed a few years to just one."

Violet bit her lip. "I hadn't heard about anything like that. That seems like something that they'd announce somehow."

**(._.)**

"_HOW FUCKING RIGHT SHE TURNED OUT TO BE!_" I shout. My interrogators seem to tense up from up on the observation deck.

"Please, Pepper. We just want to know everything about what happened. If you're found innocent, then you will be released," one of them says in a smooth, even voice. Their features are obscured by the dim light behind the doubtlessly bulletproof glass.

I want to scream something to the effect of "Piss off!" but my head starts to hurt, and I'm lost in the past again.

**(._.)**

It wasn't hard to see that Violet and Scarlet were more than just best friends.

"Violet, I'm going to check up on Pink Group's progress on sabotaging that fake mustache-wearing resistance cell. I'll be back in a few hours," Scarlet said, ducking out of the door with a wave.

"Bye," Violet murmured. She was on the painkillers again.

After helping Violet with the various chores she had to do to keep their operation from falling apart, Scarlet came home. We ducked out of the room to fetch one of the records that Violet needed to complete an official monthly report to the Empire, but when we came back, we hurriedly hid behind the walls around the archway to the foyer out of surprise from what we had just seen. We glanced around the corner again. Scarlet had her arms wrapped loosely around Violet's waist, and she had her one arm around Scarlet's shoulders and the other arm's hand was gently rubbing Scarlet's neck. Their lips were touching.

We were no idiots. We knew what kissing was, at least – we also knew to wait until they had finished doing it to walk back in with the folder.

"Ah, thank you," Violet said breathlessly, accepting the folder. Scarlet breezed past her with a chuckle.

One of their previous conversations had popped into my head then. I had remembered bringing up Red – one of the management people at the facility – and getting the following response:

"Wait, you mean Red as in Red and Purple kind of Red?" Scarlet asked, momentarily forgetting the photographs she was flipping through. "They were in the original Pairbonding program, same as us. Violet, you remember them, right?"

"Of course," Violet muttered. "How could I forget? They were always Miyuki's favorite."

"They weren't much younger than her, so I always thought something was going on between her and at least one of them. That and everyone knew that they were completely gay." Scarlet paused, eyeing our quizzical expressions. "The first program had selected twins created by flukes in the smeet creation process instead of making them specifically for it. We had all been growing up before Miyuki started the program," she explained. Of course, that wasn't why we were giving her a curious glance. Realization dawned on her face. "Oh… um…" She glanced at Violet. "I don't suppose you've been taught about…" She frowned, and nodded at us.

We still looked at her with a confused expression.

She explained it to us in detail later. Apparently, Irken smeets hadn't always been created with DNA samples and machines.

I had debated on asking Violet what she had meant by Miyuki considering Red and Purple her favorite, but Violet had seemed bitter about it, so I hadn't pressed the subject further.

Still, armed with the knowledge of what Violet and Scarlet had between them, as well as a detailed explanation of the mechanics of the actions of Irkens in obsolete times, we – Mint and I – had decided that it might be for the best if we expanded our horizons by attempting some of the more basic concepts.

"I don't know about this," Mint said quietly.

I sighed. "Mint. It is just a kiss. You were curious as well."

"Yes, but… I feel odd."

It was dark in our shared room. I stretched a little bit in the bed. "There's no reason to feel odd. You and I… we're one and the same. Besides, we're just testing."

I was tired, so I decided that the one, awkward kiss would be enough to think about. Having the special bond that we had, Mint and I were no strangers to each other's touch – the occasional hand-squeeze of encouragement, or the comforting hand on the shoulder were a few classics. Still, I thought as Mint took things into her own hands and held her lips to mine, it never hurt to try something new. My eyes drifted closed as I mirrored Violet's action of placing my arms around Mint. It felt… different. It was like embracing – something that I was a professional at, especially if Mint had gone through a disturbing dream or some other sort of event that required comforting – but it was charged with some sort of energy that neither of us could identify. That wasn't to say that we didn't like it. The feeling of each other's skin, so similar and yet so different, wasn't something that couldn't be easily ignored. It was bliss. Her breath was warm and sweet against my face, and I found myself yearning for another kiss – a silent plea that was answered a second later. After parting a second time, I found myself gazing softly at her innocent green eyes, sparkling like rounded emeralds even in the darkness. I was still sleepy from the training that had taken place that day, but I wanted so badly for our special little moment to never end. I slowly ran my lips along her neck, to which she shivered. Under the blanket, I softly rubbed her foot with mine while I continued playing with her neck – a spot that seemed to elicit quite a response from her. Suppressing a giggle, she wrapped her arms around me in a comfortable squeeze. I kissed her once more, and we smiled. I tucked my arm around her slender frame, and after a few more playful kisses back and forth, I pulled the blanket over the sheet we were under before need to sleep overtook us. We drifted off in perfect contentment.

We refrained from mentioning it to Scarlet or Violet, seeing as they'd certainly refrained from mentioning their interactions to us – more like _hid_ them, actually. Between the fact that they specifically avoided us in preparation for their moments and the fact that it was supposedly considered obsolete in modern-day Irken society, we considered it to be a touchy topic – or, at the very least, something very, very private – that would best be kept to ourselves.

As either of us could testify, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

**[Author's Note:**

**Now you can see that this isn't just a neat history. Pepper's being interrogated, but by whom, and for what reason?**

**Stay tuned or whatever. The answer will come soon.**

**Also, yes. I am not more of a fan of two gentlemen being mutually interested in each other than I absolutely have to be or whatever, but I'm telling you right now that RAPR, in my opinion, is so blatantly obvious a pairing that I consider it a ****CLOCKWERKORANGE TRUE FACT™.**

**In the projected calendar, scattered awesome is predicted, as well as a few isolated showers of justice. There is a ninety percent chance of focusing more on canon characters.**

_**All in accordance with the prophecy.**_

**~CWO]**


	7. The Sadist in the Room

"Bad news," Scarlet said immediately after entering the house.

Violet glanced up from the dining room table. She was once again going through some records – an important job, when you thought about it. They had to keep track of all of the spying operations in the system, after all. Mint and I were sitting at the table as well, but she was dozing off. It was sort of late.

Scarlet was about to say something, but paused. She turned around, and after a few seconds of staring forward with a puzzled expression, she looked down.

"Yes, I'm down here," someone said in a small voice.

Scarlet stepped inside a few feet, and a short blue-eyed Irken walked in flanked by two burly-looking Irkens with suits and sunglasses. For some reason, they all had fake mustaches. The little Irken cleared his throat.

"I couldn't help but notice the fact that you've been deceiving us…" he murmured while inspecting his claws carefully. He glanced up at Scarlet, and motioned for her to say something.

Scarlet grimaced. "Well, mister…?"

"Benvolio," he stated firmly. His right antenna twitched.

Scarlet glanced between the two bodyguards. One of them adjusted his earpiece.

"Well, mister Benvolio," Scarlet said smoothly, returning his firm expression, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Deny, deny, deny," Benvolio stated, now tapping his claws together slowly. "That's the name of the game for you… _imperialists._"

"Oh, how nice," Scarlet said flatly. "What business do you have here?"

"What, you aren't going to invite me in?" Benvolio asked in a mock upset tone. Not waiting for an answer, he continued. "Even with what 'Pink Group' told us, I've already come up with enough evidence proving your loyalty to the Empire in the past minute."

Scarlet rolled her eyes. "Like what?"

"First of all, I recognized your butler out there as that old famous assassin for Tallest Marshmallow back in the Irken-Triapsian war," he muttered, eyes small and hateful.

"Well, we didn't get any references," Scarlet snapped.

Benvolio smirked. "Alright. You tensed up slightly when I mentioned Pink Group. If you had tensed up out of confusion, it would have happened several seconds later, so don't try to deny it."

Scarlet grimaced. The hatred in the air seemed to become tangible. I glanced across at Mint, and then at Violet. She seemed immersed in the scene at the door.

"Moving on swiftly," Benvolio continued, smirk still plastered across his relatively small face, "That woman with the purple eyes at the table is going over imperial spying documents."

Scarlet's jaw dropped slightly. "H-how did you know that?"

Benvolio exhaled, and a wide smile replaced his smirk. "Because you just told me."

He nodded slightly, and the guards acknowledged that motion, but before they could do anything, Scarlet grabbed an umbrella from behind the door, yanked on it sharply, and withdrew a short sword from the tattered plastic.

"Do something, you fools!" Benvolio shouted, glancing up at his security. "She's armed!"

Scarlet swung the blade at the nearest guard, but he sidestepped her blow and grabbed her arm. She twisted her hand around, and the blade caught the guard's hand. He yelled, and released her, but managed to come away from the scuffle with the blade. He tossed it on the ground, and moved closer. Scarlet backed away slightly into the living room.

"Invade _my_ house, will you?" she growled, feeling around behind her. Her hand came in contact with a metal fireplace poker.

Violet finally reacted, and thereby broke us out of our shock-induced trance.

"Get up, and get into the closet," she whispered, still staring at Scarlet.

"But-…" Mint said.

"_Go_," Violet hissed.

I practically yanked Mint down into our bedroom, went through the closet door, and closed it behind us.

"But Scarlet and Violet…" Mint whispered.

I threw my arms around her in the dark, and tried to whisper something comforting, but she knew that I was just as upset as she was. We went completely silent, and strained to listen. After an eternity of silence, we heard footsteps.

The footsteps were getting closer, but then Violet called out, "Mint! Pepper!"

We slowly emerged from the closet, and Violet was standing before us. We looked at her with blank expressions. She smiled sadly. "It's alright. They're gone, and Scarlet is fine."

All trace of nervousness gone, Mint and I smiled. We were about to confirm that Scarlet was fine, but Violet raised her arm before us. We glanced at her, puzzled.

"I'm not sure how you feel about blood," she warned. There was something cold and distant echoing in her otherwise clear purple eyes.

I felt a knot form in my stomach. "So? Do I just stand here until you clean up whatever's left of those p-…" I realized how cold that statement sounded after I reached the last word of it. I glanced at Mint and Violet. They'd noticed, too. I sighed. "Whoever those… _people_ were… I mean, as legal guardians of Mint and I… I would've fought them if…" I sighed again.

Violet stared at me firmly. "No. Actually, maybe it's best if you _do_ see it."

I was surprised.

"After all, working for the Empire has its price. Sometimes it seems like you have to pay more than you own," she added quietly. She deftly reached into her pocket, unscrewed the lid of her plastic medicine jar, and shakily put one in her mouth, all in one maneuver. After she abruptly closed her eyes, I saw her throat move slightly as she swallowed, and she concealed the jar after closing it. She opened her eyes slowly, and jerked her head in the direction of the living room.

I glanced at Mint. She looked very, very confused and afraid.

"I'd rather you see this own your own," Violet said quietly. She nodded to Mint, and placed a hand – now faltering from her pills she had doubtlessly taken before the most recent one – to guide me out of the room. I found myself staring down at the wooden flooring, but I barely heard the tapping of our boots against it. It was worse because I was… _alone…_

"Pepper. Look up," Violet murmured.

I slowly looked up to see the living room, completely body-free. However, I realized half a second later what the dark purple liquid that decorated most of the room was.

"Where's the…?" I asked, absently rubbing my hands together.

"Corpse?" Violet asked flatly.

I nodded slowly. I felt sick, but I kept glancing over the scene. There were small splatters of blood around the fireplace, with the biggest concentration almost right in front of it.

"Let's ask," Violet muttered. Before I could ask what she meant, she yelled, "Scarlet!"

I turned and noticed that the door had been open. Scarlet walked through, but she was different than the Scarlet that I had seen before. This Scarlet had a leaner, more feral look about her. She had a wide smile etched on her face, and her eyes were intense. She was carrying a blood-slicked fire poker, still glistening after doubtlessly taking a life. She tossed it into the air and caught it. "Yes?" she asked. I noticed – with horror – that her pants legs and boots had small patches of blood on them, along with one tiny pinprick of blood on her otherwise spotless cheek.

"Just let Pepper know what happened," she said casually. She didn't look at me.

Scarlet's eyes focused on mine, and her smile faltered. "Oh, well, Jer took out the corpse already."

"Did he?" Violet asked.

I glanced back at Scarlet. She was inspecting her weapon. "Yes. The idiot didn't seem to be able to react in time to a piece of heavy iron smashing into the side of his head," she whispered. I could tell she was excited. "I killed the first pair of fists in a few seconds, can you believe that? The help people get nowadays. Of course the little rebel self-proclaimed super-detective turned and ran, but I was able to catch the other guard in the head." She laughed a cruel, biting laugh, and then inhaled sharply. "I can safely say that the second one did not see it coming."

I realized then that Violet hadn't wanted to show me the body.

She had wanted me to see the sadist.


	8. Confronted

"Subject Scarlet was confirmed to have sadistic tendencies from her psychological evaluation," the interrogator says. I glare at his still-obscured profile. "The only reason she wasn't terminated was because her partner was fine, and the success rate of the project at that time was so low that they needed every pair they could get. They had originally employed her as an interrogator, but after a while she was removed from the position. The reason for this? She never knew when to stop."

"I don't care," I growl from my chair. I tug halfheartedly at my metal bonds.

"Subject Violet was afraid your personality was too close to hers," the interrogator continues in the strange, deep, modified voice that streams out of the speakers of the room. "Perhaps she was right. The people you've killed…"

I viciously thrash my right arm in the chair until it begins to throb. "_FUCK YOU!_" I shout.

"All I want to do is help you, Pepper. Even before the episode with the rebel captain's guards, you were no stranger to death… or rather _killing._ After all, you had been in a war zone before. Perhaps you were upset because it was unexpected. Or, perhaps more likely, you were upset because you didn't get to gut at least one of them."

"You made me do it!" I yell. "All of you fucking _imperialists_ made me do it_!_" I close my mouth abruptly, and stare at the profile of my interrogator.

"I see." Pause. "Let's go back to Marzip. Back to the estate."

I stare numbly at the white tiled floor. "Get out of my head…" I whisper.

But it's too late.

**(._.)**

"No, you two have to go," Violet whispered. Her hands were shaking, and she was putting away files and papers in a rush. "It's too dangerous."

I sighed, and glanced at Mint. Violet had finished cleaning up the blood, and Scarlet had gone on to furiously attempt to contact any surviving members of Pink Group.

"Our current secret project was to sabotage the efforts of that mustache-wearing rebel cell," Violet said tiredly, pausing in her efforts to organize the records. Her eyes were sad. "Pink Group was assisting us in the actual field work. They were operating from the city, and the mustache group's base was a house on the outskirts of the city, almost directly opposite from where we are. Needless to say, they were discovered, and most likely killed. It looks like they know that we were deceiving them, too."

I frowned. "So we have to leave?"

"Yes, for your own good. We're going to leave, too," Violet explained, now sitting down at the dining room table with us, clutching her head in her hands. "I'm sorry you had to see… I'm sorry you saw Scarlet like that. You had to see it, though."

I stared at her curiously. "Why?"

"I… I don't want you to end up like her," Violet forced out, shaking slightly.

"You mean…" I said quietly, glancing at Mint with an uncertain look, "As violent as her?"

"No… you saw her. You saw how she was acting. She took lives, Pepper. She _liked_ taking lives," Violet continued, her face still obscured by her hands. "We were sent here because it seemed like something that we could be useful in doing, but not to the point of evoking Scarlet's vicious nature."

I stared blankly at her. "So? She works for the Irken Empire! She killed people who were trying to kill her."

Violet let her hands drop on the table, and she stared at me. Her eyes were practically glowing with fury. She reached for her pills, and clacked them onto the table. She pointed at them. "These… pills… _are Scarlet's._"

We were silent. There went Mint's theory.

"_VIOLET! THEY'RE BACK!_" Scarlet screeched.

Violet paled visibly, and whispered quickly for us to get down. After a few seconds of shuffling sounds from the back room, Scarlet emerged with two shotguns. She tossed one at Violet, and then glanced at us. "Soldiers or not, you're my responsibility," she said quietly. "I want you two to go out back. Jer's waiting."

"But if Jer takes the… well, how will you get away?" Mint asked, glancing between Violet and Pepper nervously.

"I don't intend to get away," Scarlet muttered. "I intend to kill every last one of them, and then eat dinner." She made sure the shotgun was ready to fire, and gestured for Violet to back her up. "Go," she instructed us firmly.

While I wordlessly yanked on Mint's hand to guide her out of the back door through the kitchen, Jer was waiting with the hovercar, already prepared to leave. From the driver's seat, he hit the button that released the backseat doors, and we hastily entered the vehicle.

"I should be back there. I'm a goddamn soldier!" I hissed. "I shouldn't have to be _running_."

Jer sighed. "I'm sorry you feel that way, Pepper, but we're leaving." He activated the sleek black craft, and the engine began to hum just as we heard plasma fire from within the house.

We felt slightly relieved when we noticed that it was the vaguely electrical-sounding twanging discharge of a shotgun. Once we began to pick up speed and were shooting across the grassy plain of the rural edge of Marzip's capital, we heard a faint humming sound over the hum of our engine. Mint and I glanced back out of the rear window, and couldn't help but notice the hoverbikes on our tail. "Uh, Jer?" Mint asked, glancing back at our newly nervous chauffer.

After shakily dabbing his forehead with his handkerchief, he looked down from the rear-view mirror and back at the grassland in front of him. He reached back and pointed at the glove compartment in front of us. "Hit the button, and exhibit your 'soldier' qualities," he said cryptically.

Mint pressed the small black, circular button on the back of the glove compartment, and a hatch opened in the floorboard of the hovercar. The humming of our engine seemed louder as we continued to pick up speed, but the thing that Mint and I were most concerned about was the treasure trove of lethal weaponry stacked before us. Mint glanced at me hesitantly, but withdrew an antique bolt-action plasma beam rifle that looked as if it had walked out of an official Irken state-of-conflict news release back from the Irken-Triapsian war. She shakily fitted in a genuine plasma microslug clip into the weapon, and drew back the odd lever synonymous with weapons from the time. She nodded to me just as I had finished grabbing the highest power heavy pistol that I could find, attaching the awkward, bulky scope with a definite click, and making sure to load it with a power cell magazine that would've probably fetched a better price at an antique show than at the black market.

"I'll drive, you shoot," Jer said quietly.

"Right."


End file.
